The ex-official demands facts and documents after a hint about his role in the attack on NABU

The ex-official called the statements a “personal dislike” on the part of Klymenko.

Former first deputy director of NABU Gizo Uglava, who was dismissed from the National Anti-Corruption Bureau based on a disciplinary commission decision for violating the Oath of a civil servant after a scandal about possible leaks of information on NABU investigations benefiting the Office of the President, was outraged and denied the words of the head of the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office, Oleksandr Klymenko, who hinted at his involvement in preparing the July attack on NABU and SAP.

In an interview with journalist Olena Trybushna, Klymenko said that the former first deputy director of NABU took part in preparing the attack on the anti-corruption bodies last summer. According to the head of SAP, he helped with advice and documents. Klymenko did not, of course, name the surname, but after a certain clarification by the journalist he noted that there was only one former first deputy, hinting at Gizo Uglava.

The next morning Uglava wrote on his Facebook page that he found it necessary to respond publicly to these assertions.

“The head of SAP should not only demand evidence from others. He himself must demonstrate unconditional adherence to the principles of evidentiary support, factual justification, and responsibility for every publicly spoken word.

That is why serious public accusations without citing specific facts, documents, or other evidence are unacceptable. They cause harm not only to the person at whom they are directed, but also to the authority of the entire anti-corruption system.

I officially and responsibly state: this information does not correspond to reality. Oleksandr Klymenko is lying,” he said.

The ex-official added that he was removed from his position at NABU as a result of a media campaign “in order to transfer actual control over NABU to a narrow circle of individuals.”

“The current interview gives me additional grounds to believe that Oleksandr Klymenko’s statements are based on personal bias and dislike, not on objectively established facts,” Uglava said.

He wrote that he publicly calls on Oleksandr Klymenko to disclose all specific facts, documents, and other materials on which the claims about his involvement in the July 2025 events are based, and also to report on the results of the criminal proceeding concerning the disclosure of information.

Recall that in May 2024 the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office and the National Police conducted searches at the residence of an employee of one of NABU’s units over a leak of information in a high-profile case. SAP later explained that this concerned the case of former head of the Dnipropetrovsk Regional State Administration Reznychenko and his partner, at the time a serving consultant to the Office of the President Yurii Holyk — during the “Great Construction” one and a half billion hryvnias went missing. During the investigation it turned out that Holyk received detailed information about the progress of NABU’s investigation through an intermediary, businessman and former head of the Brovary District State Administration Heorhii Birkadze.

Some time later Kryvonos removed his first deputy Gizo Uglava from performing his official duties to “ensure an objective investigation” of the alleged data leak, and NABU and SAP agreed on a joint investigation of the case.

Finally, on 3 September 2024 Gizo Uglava was dismissed from NABU after the disciplinary commission’s findings about pressure on subordinates — one of the episodes in the scandal about data leaks from NABU.

In the interview with Trybushna, Klymenko said that preparations for the attack on NABU and SAP began as early as the fall of 2024, and that decisions were made collegially.

Read the full story about data leaks from NABU and possible consequences in Inna Vedernikova’s piece “In Search of the ‘Mole’: How the crisis between NABU and SAP might end.”